Honeysuckle

Parts Usually Used

Lonicera periclymenum: Flowers, bark Lonicera Japonica: Bark, flowers, leaves

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

” No need to describe it. The flowers of this plant, pink, creamy-yellow and purple, are not only pretty but are medicinal as well. They are sweet-tasting and may be eaten raw. Lonicera Japonica: Japanese honeysuckle is an evergreen trailing, twining vine. The leaves are oval, entire (not toothed) and the flowers are white or buff; lobes are strongly spreading from the throat, stamens protruding; flowers in April and July.

This evergreen trailing twining vine has become a troublesome weed in the South. The flowers are white but quickly fade to yellow, earning the plant the name “Gold and Silver Flower” in China. The leaves and flowers are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Another variety: Called honeysuckle (L. interrupta). The leaves were used by Yuki (California) to wash sores (SEE SORES). Shoshones pound raw root and apply to swellings.

Where Found

Lonicera periclymenum: The borders of woods, in hedges. Lonicera Japonica: Noxious weed in much of the southern states; north to Massachusetts, Indiana.

Medicinal Properties

Lonicera periclymenum: Diuretic, antispasmodic, expectorant, laxative, emetic Lonicera Japonica: Alterative, antiviral, antibacterial, antibiotic, antispasmodic, astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic, febrifuge, refrigerant

Biochemical Information

Lonicera periclymenum: Tannin, flavonoids, mucilage, sugars, salicylic acid Lonicera Japonica: Luteolin, inositol, tannin, sugars, mucilage

Legends, Myths and Stories

Lonicera periclymenum: Pliney recommended woodbine to be taken in wine for spleen disorders. Lonicera Japonica: Today, Chinese honeysuckle is more likely to be used medicinally. This was first listed in the Tang Ben Cao, written in 659 AD and is one of the most important Chinese herbs for clearing poisons from the body. Yuki Basketry: On the Round Valley Reservation, the original inhabitants were Yukis.

Materials were much the same as those used by their neighbors, except that in addition to those, Yukis used maple and honeysuckle to make baskets. Another plant called honeysuckle is Diervilla canadensis .

Uses

Historical herbalists used *Lonicera periclymenum* as a cardiac tonic and recommended it for chest colds, coughs, asthma, rheumatism, arthritis, liver complaints, sore throats, dropsy, and skin conditions. In folk tradition, it was also associated with easing swollen glands. In eastern Asia, traditional practitioners utilized *Lonicera japonica* for inflammatory conditions, fevers, colds, and flu.

The flowers and leaves were prepared as a beverage tea in Japan, while regional traditions frequently brewed the flowers, sometimes alongside forsythia fruit, for laryngitis, conjunctivitis, and digestive or urinary tract complaints. Historically, teas made from the stems were considered milder preparations. Externally, herbalists applied honeysuckle washes to address rheumatism, sores, boils, scabies, and local swelling.

Folk medicine occasionally associated flower preparations with managing blood pressure and cholesterol.

Bibliography

American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 Indian Uses of Native Plants , by Edith Van Allen Murphey, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1958, print 1990 The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England.

, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974